Los Angeles

Japanese Star Ohtani Reportedly Joining Angels

Japanese star Shohei Ohtani, known as the Babe Ruth of Japan, will sign with the Los Angeles Angels, his agent says.

Aside from the Rangers, the Dodgers, Cubs, Giants, Padres and Mariners all had interest in Ohtani.

Ohtani is the rare player who was both a pitcher and a hitter in Japan and grades out high in both. Now the 23-year old wants to do the same thing on the world’s biggest baseball stage to show he’s the real deal.

In 403 career games for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, Ohtani had 48 home runs and 166 RBIs. On the mound, he went 42-15 with a 2.52 ERA and 624 strikeouts. The fastball was clocked as high as 102 mph and touches triple digits regularly. Combine that with his splitter and slider and the repertoire is just nasty.

Bottom line- He’s an All-Star in both phases.

NBC 5's Pat Doney and Chris James discuss the Rangers pursuit of Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani.
Copyright AP - Associated Press
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